19 year old Devin Gardener is Shoshone, but he didn’t really feel Shoshone until recently. His great-great-grandmother gave up her native language and whitened her skin to avoid being teased at school, and Devin grew up with little knowledge of his Shoshone roots, and a deep love for Xbox and Playstation.
Then he got involved with the Shoshone Language Project at the University of Utah, which involves youth in its efforts to preserve and pass on Shoshone culture. There, he was able to blend his love of video games with his growing sense of Shoshone identity, in the creation of the first ever Shoshone language video game. In fact, it might be the first native language video game in the world.
Photo: Host Al Letson with Marianna DiPaolo, the director of the Shoshoni Language Project at the University of Utah.
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